2K Marin

Established after the success of BioShock, 2K Marin’s history has been tied to other franchises. This is the developer that worked on the BioShock port to the PlayStation 3 and the inevitable BioShock 2. If that weren’t enough, the team even did a little work on BioShock Infinite as well. If fans didn’t know any better, they’d be a studio known as the BioShock B team.

But 2K Marin is more talented than most folks give them credit for, and the team finally has a chance to show what itcould do with The Bureau: XCOM Declassified. For the most part, this is an original spin-off. Yes, it’s set in the XCOM universe but the origin story and its requisite gameplay elements are innovative.

The week of August 18 will be one of the busiest of the year. In that span, Disney Infinity is launching and will likely sell like hotcakes to the younger set. Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist will probably be the must-have stealth title of the year. Meanwhile the bombastic Saints Row 4 will draw on their growing fan base.

But the most intriguing game coming out that week has to be The Bureau: XCOM Declassified. It’s the most original of the bunch. It’s a project that I’ve followed since it was announced at E3 2010. Since then, The Bureau has gone through several drastic changes and the game I recently played is far different from the one I first saw. The most noticeable change is the perspective: It’s gone from the first person to the third person, a move that feels right.

When I saw it three years ago, XCOM, as it was known back then, seemed more of a game that was adapted to use the Bioshock engine. It seemed like a natural dovetail for the developer, 2K Marin, which cut its teeth on the genetically modified shooter and later created the sequel. The combination of the characters, midcentury setting and user interface resembled the team’s past work. But now with the wholesale changes, the game has its own identity.

This is an old screenshot from the game in 2010. The rest of the photos below are from the 2011 E3 demo.

A lot can change in a year. The last time I saw XCOM at E3 2010, the game looked more like a shooter that the successor to one of the most acclaimed strategy games of all time. All the planning and tactics happened before the mission. It’s in how you choose which objective to take or what new alien weapon to research. The strategy element seemed light.

Fast-forward 12 months later and XCOM has done a complete 180. At E3, it looks as though 2K Marin went back to the drawing board and came up with a project that’s truer to its predecessors. The developers said that their initial take XCOM was too much in their comfort zone. The team that developed Bioshock 2 said it was too much like that game. This time around, it’s still a first-person shooter, but now, there’s more of a focus on using strategy in actual combat.

I’m coming into XCOM as a newbie. The computer game passed me by in 1994. Back then, I was more into Doom and Syndicate rather than UFOs and secret government organizations. But the original is universally acclaimed, and I was curious to see what all the fuss was about with the reboot.

What I saw last month at E3 reminded me a lot of Bioshock. Part of the reason is that the game is made by 2K Marin, the studio that created a good return trip to Rapture. The other half is that XCOM is built off the same engine as the genetically enhanced shooter. There are other similarities between the two. They’re both set in the past: BioShock occurs in the 1960s while XCOM takes place in the 1950s. There’s cameras involved in booth and taking pictures offers benefits in both games.

But the biggest difference between the two is subject matter and structure. While Bioshock dealt with gene-spliced monstrosities in an underwater city, XCOM focuses on a post-World War II America that faces an alien threat. That’s the whole reason XCOM exists. After discovering an alien artifact, the government sets up the agency to fight the unknown dangers, handle scraps of information and figure out why this force is invading our world.

When the original BioShock was released, everyone saw the potential in running around and setting people on fire with plasmids. It seemed like a concept that’s too good not to be explored. In the inevitable sequel, BioShock 2 adds a multiplayer mode and it’s shaping up to be pretty damn good.

I had a chance to play it last week and I interviewed lead multiplayer designer Mathieu Berube, of Digital Extremes, about that portion of the game. He offers some tips (see video above) for those curious souls willing to venture into the multiplayer mode. In the meantime, here are some random facts that couldn’t make it in the video.

1. Yes, there’s an experience system and leveling up doesn’t necessarily make players more powerful. It just opens up more of the game to players so they can specialize their loadouts further.

2. Players wear masquerade-type masks that indicate the level of experience and expertise in the game. It’s a good way to differentiate yourself from the thousands of other players. It’s also like a badge of honor. There’s also special melee weapons that work like other armaments, but they’re just for show.

3. Up to 10 players can be online at the max.

4. With so many players experimenting powers, Digital Extremes is expecting to rebalance and tweak the gameplay at some point, so expect patches.

5. There are in-game achievements called trials that will offer bonuses once you complete them.

6. There’s a Big Daddy in every game mode except for Last Splicer Standing.

I had the utmost confidence that they’d put together a solid multiplayer mode that’s more than a last-minute addition to the main campaign. From what I played, the studio is proving me right. Here’s what I noticed during the multiplayer session.

BIG DADDY TIME: I played a mode where players on each team search for a Big Daddy suit. Once a teammate has it, the others rally around the Big Daddy trying to protect it from damage so that it can fire its one-hit kill rivets.

TRAPS GALORE: Scattered throughout each level are vending machines that pump out ammo and other items. Players can actually hack these to hurt rival players. Just make sure you tell your teammates.

PICTURES: I died in the match. Actually, it’s more like slaughtered relentlessly by other fools who just laughed at my misfortune. To add insult to injury, some of them even photographed my rotting corpse, but the move isn’t a superficial taunt. It has a purpose. Taking a photo gives the picture-taker a damage bonus the next time you face them.

LOADOUTS: I got to choose from a few different loadouts. I’m not that great at sniping so I opted for the rocket launcher-shotgun combo. It’s fairly destructive and useful on the docks.

Digital Extremes seems to have taken some core elements of the Bioshock franchise such as the plasmids, Big Daddy and picture taking it and melded into a multiplayer setting in a way that makes sense. Communication seems to be important in team play for obvious reasons. Players had to coordinate attacks on the Big Daddy or else it could do a lot of damage to a team.

One of the last appointments I had at E3 was forBioShock 2. I had some trepidation going in. I didn’t know what to expect from a sequel to one of the best games of the past decade. I wondered whether BioShock needed a follow-up at all.

But after sitting on the BioShock 2 presentation, I’m more at ease, still suspicious if it’ll be any good, but more hopeful. Alyssa Finley, the executive producer, said that the sequel takes place 10 years after the events of the original. That’s 10 years of fighting among splicers and 10 more years of Rapture slowly deteriorating.

This time around, players take on the role of a Big Daddy, but you’re not a normal one. Fans play as the prototype. He’s faster, more agile and more powerful than the normal ones. He can use the iconic drill and the rivet gun, but better than all these natural powers is his ability to use plasmids.

Yes, players will be a Big Daddy that has the power to burn, electrocute and freeze splicers. On top of that, 2K Marin and company also puts a new twist on the Big Daddy and Little Sister relationship. Players can now adopt the devilish-looking girls and let them harvest adam.

Sometimes little details about eagerly anticipated games comes pop up in wanted ads. Yep, you can’t hire for a project unless prospective employees know about it.

Well GameGuru finds that 2K Marin is looking for a programmer with experience working with the Unreal Engine 3 and PlayStation 3. Sony fans, there’s your hope right there. Could Rapture be heading to the PS3? Maybe. Why else would they list this a criterion? Here’s the job listing if folks want to apply.

Bioshockmade a lot of people’s Game of the Year list, so it’s no surprise that Take-Two has announced that 2K Marin will be working on the follow-up that is slated for the holiday season of 2009, according to Kotaku.

This pretty much confirms what Surfer Girl said in November. The biggest piece of news is that it’s coming out so soon. Is two-plus years enough to make a title that’s deserving of the Bioshock legacy?

Another important question is if a second Bioshock is necessary at all. I always saw the game as a stand-alone experience. I can’t see how they can make a sequel, taking the ending into account. It’s kind of like making a sequel to the Titanic or Schindler’s List. You just shouldn’t do it.